Who Will Pay for Increasing Biofuel Mandates? Incidence of the Renewable Fuel Standard Given a Binding Blend Wall
研究发现，在乙醇混合墙约束下，提高生物燃料强制掺混要求的成本不成比例地落在柴油消费者身上，而放松混合墙约束是保护柴油消费者的唯一有效手段。
Abstract We show that the cost of increasing biofuel mandates given a binding ethanol blend wall falls disproportionately on diesel fuel consumers. The extent of the burden on diesel fuel consumers is explained neither by their relatively more inelastic demand nor by blenders seeking to capitalize on the biodiesel tax credit. Relaxing the blend wall constraint by increasing the potential demand for high‐ethanol blends is the only effective lever to insulate diesel fuel drivers from the one‐sided welfare impacts of rising mandate levels. The independent effects of the nested mandate structure and the joint compliance base under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) generate the link between motor gasoline and diesel fuel markets. Our results highlight the importance of evaluating the incidence of the RFS in a holistic framework taking both ethanol and biodiesel into account.